Improvement in towing canal-boats



D. W. COOKE.

TOWING CANAL BOAT.

No. 185,854 Patented Jan. 2, 1877.

N-PETERS. PHOTO-LITHDGRAPHER, WASHINGFDNCD C,

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE,

DAVID W. GOOKE, OF FRANKLIN, TENNESSEE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOWING CANAL-BOATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 185,854, dated January2, 1877; application filed March 21, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID W. 00mm, of Franklin, Williamson county,Tennessee, have invented a new and Improved Machine for PropellingCanal-Boats, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to that class of submerged, or partially submerged,drivingwheels which run upon a rail laid upon the bottom of the canal;and the nature thereof consists in combining the said wheel with a boatof peculiar construction and operation, as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying plate of drawings, in which corresponding parts aredesignated by the same letters, Figure 1 is a section of the boat takenlongitudinally in the vertical plane on the line a: at of Fig. 2. Fig. 2is a plan View.

In the said drawings, A designates the submerged rail, laid upon thebottom of the canal, upon which the driving-wheel, which is provided oneach side with a flange, to keep it on the rail, runs. The saiddriving-wheel revolves within a chamber, E, in the stern of the boat, insuch a manner as to cause the draft of said boat to bear near aspossible to the axis of the said wheel.

On each side of the said chamber E are arranged the tank-holds I, forthe reception of the ballast-tanks. The said ballast-tanks are providedwith pumps, or other means of discharging or regulating the quantity ofwater Within the same, for the purpose of giving the wheel the requiredamount of traction, or lifting the same entirely from the track when itis required to pass a lock.

The stern a of the boat is square, and constructed of such a size thatit will exactly correspond with the bow of the canal-boat to which it isattached, thereby obviating the displacement of the water, which would0therwise occur.

By this construction a tug is provided for a canal-boat, or a series ofcanal-boats, in which the traction of wheel may be accurately regulatedby water-ballast, and which acts as a bow in preventing the displacementof the water.

I am aware that it is not new to combine a traction driving-wheel with asubmerged rail, and that water-ballast is in common use;

I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates- A tug for propelling canal-b0ats, having a square stern, a,ballast-holds I, chamber E, and traction-wheel O, as and for thepurposes described.

DAVID W. GOOKE. Witnesses:

H. D. CAMPBELL, M. ANNIE HoUsE.

